Innovation Europe > News > Innovation EU Vol1-1 > Middle East Technical University

The mission of METU is to reach, produce, apply and promote knowledge, and to educate individuals with that knowledge for the social, cultural, economic, scientific and technological development of society and humanity.
The vision statement includes:

• Internationalization
• Priority for research
• Educating the leaders of future
• Creating synergy by interdisciplinary work
• Innovation Leadership role in the progress of the society
• Employee satisfaction

EDUCATION

• METU accepts students only from top 1.5 % of approximately 1.8 million applicants taking the National University Entrance Examination, each year.
• METU hosts over 1400 international students coming from different countries.
• All undergraduate programmes in the Engineering Faculty, that went through the ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology- USA) evaluation (first practice in the country) were granted substantial equivalency (accreditation for non-USA programmes).

RESEARCH

METU is one of the leading R&D universities in Turkey The overall volume of grants awarded to METU is among the highest in Turkey. Research incomes account approximately for over 35% of total income of METU.

• METU had the greatest share in national research projects funded by the The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) in the last five years.
• METU is the premier university in Turkey, in terms of the number of the EU Framework Programme (FP) projects. A wide spectrum of international COST, EUREKA, MEDA, NATO, NSF, UN, World Bank, Jean Monnet projects have also been carried out by METU reseachers.

Research Infrastructure All departments possess fully equiped research laboratories. In addition, METU has the most advanced Central Laboratory in the country and the region in terms of extensive range of state-of-the-art equipment. Numerous basic, applied and social science research centers complement METU’s R&D resources. Some examples are:

• MEMS: Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems Facilities www.microsystems.metu.edu.tr
• BILTIR: Interdisciplinary Research & Application Center www.biltir.metu.edu.tr
• PAL: Fuel Quality Control Laboratory www.pal.metu.edu.tr
• MODSIMMER: Modeling and Simulation Technology Center www.modsim.metu.edu.tr
• AFET: Disaster Management Implementation and Research Center www.dmc.metu.edu.tr
• KORA: The Center for Black Sea and Central Asia www.kora.metu.edu.tr
• TACDAM: Center for Research and Assesment of the Historic Environment www.tacdam.metu.edu.tr
• GUNAM: Solar Energy Research Center
• CONFUCIUS: The Center for Chinese Culture

RANKING

• In the Webometrics (Cyberlab) worldwide ranking among 15.000 universities, in July 2009, METU ranked as world’s 435th (1st place in Turkey).
• The number of Ph.D. Students, graduated from USA universities by 1998-2003 were evaluated by the National Science Foundation. METU graduates rank 11th in all faculties and rank 6th among Engineering Faculty graduates.

SCIENCE AND SOCIETY

• Science in Society Project (SSP) aims to disseminate knowledge created within the university and increase scientific literacy of the society. METU is the first university in Turkey to settle a far-reaching Science and Technology Museum visited by around 2500 people each month.
• Faculty Development Programme (FDP): Within the context of FDP, with a budget of 10 million € funded by the government, 800 graduate students that receive their PhDs at METU will return to 50 partner universities all over Turkey as academic staff.

NORTHERN CYPRUS CAMPUS (NCC)

METU is the first Turkish university to open a campus outside Turkey Established in 2005, METU NCC enjoys the full academic and administrative support of METU. It offers internationally accepted degree programmes. There are 13 undergraduate programmes and 1 graduate programme. The language of instruction on the Campus is English. www.ncc.metu.edu.tr

METU TECHNOPOLIS

The first and biggest science and technology park in Turkey METUTECH hosts over 240 High-Tech companies, employing more than 3000 R&D personnel. METUTECH’s aims at enhancing Turkey’s R&D potential through university-industry collaboration. METUTECH’s perspective relies on the peripheral eco-innovation model that is composed of several units, each feeding the science park the supplementary influx needed. These are;

• Incubation Center including pre-incubation programmes (a business plan contest (YFYI), and a thematic pre-incubation center (METUTECH-ATOM)) helps students to transfer their ideas into innovative companies.
• Technology Transfer Office (METUTECH-TTO) works for commercialization of research outcomes.
• Business Angel Network (METUTECH-BAN) supplies the early stage companies with necessary support.
• BSN Anatolia, funded by European Commission, is an International Technology Transfer Programme aiming at internationalization of companies. www.metutech.metu.edu.tr

FACTS AND FIGURES

Established: 1956
Location: Ankara, Turkey
Language of Instruction: English

Faculties:
Architecture
Arts and Sciences
Economic and Admin. Sciences
Education, Engineering

Graduate Schools:
Applied Mathematics
Informatics
Natural and Applied Sciences
Marine Sciences
Social Sciences

International Collaboration:
Erasmus agreements: 156
Bilateral agreements: 160
Joint degree programmes: 15

Research Projects:
(As of July 2009)

TÜBİTAK (National RC) Projects
Ongoing: 295
Completed: 72 (2005-2008)

EU FP Projects
Ongoing: 31
Completed: 58

Other International Projects
Ongoing: 30
Completed: 41

Academic Staff: 1150
Research Assistants: 1300

Students:
Undergraduate: 16500,
Graduate: 6500,
International Students: over 1400
from 68 different countries

Social Life:
Social Clubs: 80
Sports Clubs: 12
Sports Teams: 28

Campus size:
Campus area: 4500 hectares

CONTACT
Middle East Technical University
06531 Ankara Turkey
Tel:+90(312)2102000
Fax:+90(312)2101105
www.metu.edu.tr

METU Northern Cyprus Campus
www.ncc.metu.edu.tr